ok, maybe not huge, but at least the few extra pounds of muscle i want.

i’ve been working out in redondo beach since my move and have been in the gym now every day this week trying this max-ot routine. each time i’ve been there i’ve seen this huge/cut guy working out by himself. yesterday i figured i’d chat him up, because i figured i might as well start making friends at this gym. so as he was inbetween exercises, i walk up to him and ask “so what’s the secret? how do i get that huge?” i really expected some one-liner like “lift hard,” “never give-up” or something else that would make me go away, but this guy actually sat down and talked with me for 15 minutes about workouts and diets. i was totally blown away by his friendliness and willingness to share his time and information.
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i woke up this morning and realized i don’t have enough blogs. born from that realization came getbig.kentomatic.com. get big! will be a diary of my 12 week Max-OT workout plan and progress, and will have all the sexy pictures of me you can handle. it won’t be a particularly interesting blog day-to-day, but hopefully in 3 months it will show some interesting progress and change. this will also be the first time i’ve stuck to a regimented workout schedule, and the first time i’ll be in the gym monday through friday. wish me luck and enjoy the blog.

[getbig.kentomatic.com]

before gym workouts i usually drink an abb speed stack energy drink. the caffeine really helps and this drink has some other scary sounding ingredients:

For high intensity training and calorie burning, Speed Stack utilizes Methylxanthines to work synergistically with Alpha and Beta Agonists Receptors

the speed stack gives me a good burst of energy for 30-60mins, just enough time to have a powerful workout.

anyway last night before i left work, i was feeling low energy and to stay awake for my drive home i had a rockstar and then when i got to the gym had my speed stack. the workout was really strong, but when i got home i was seriously seeing stars and almost felt drunk. i thought i’d counter the effect with some scotch but that just made me feel ridiculous. anyway, a rockstar + a speed stack = about 400mg of caffeine which is too much to take within a couple of hours, i’ll be more careful next time.

towards the end of the year i was getting pretty lazy with the workouts, only making it to the gym about 2 times a week at most and ususally skipping shoulder day. last week i made it to all my workouts and started running a mile after the lifting. i’m going to start eating hard and taking my shakes and put on some bulk for the next 2 months or so and then start to clean it up for summer. i’m going to continue to continue running during my gaining cycle though, so that i’m in shape to do some hard cardio once i start to cut down.

i’ve also been having some wack knee problems that were particularly bad last year. i saw the doctor and he told me that i should work on my quads to give my knee more support so i’m going to focus on legs which i’ve always neglected.

+= wtf?
the “sport” 24 hour fitness on bellflower now has a self-serve starbucks machine. it’s not next to the energy drink vending machines, but in the weight room, so there’s a nauseating mixture of coffee and sweat in the air. i get that caffeine = energy, but that’s what energy drinks are for. you can’t pound a cup of hot coffee like you can a redbull, and if you’re the guy walking around the gym daintily sipping your coffee you’re a douche. anyway i rarely go to that gym anyway, but i hope it’s not the start of a new trend.

i was (by accident, i swear!) watching the tmz tv show yesterday and they were making fun of people with too much plastic surgery. meg ryan definitely looked the freakiest, but at least i could tell it was her. i barely even recognized this guy though. i know he was pretty lanky back in the day, and i’m all for the body building, but look at those shoulders, especially the right one, it’s pointy! tmz said they were probably implants which would be disgusting, although he’s otherwise pretty built, so maybe they’re real and he just has some strange musculature around there, or maybe was doing too much juice, used his shoulder as an injection site and got some wierd abscess. and what’s with the facelift, painted fingernails and makeup? freak! anyway, if i ever start looking like this, someone kick my ass.

speaking of plastic surgery and muscle implants, there’s apparently a procedure to get ripped abs without doing any of the work, although it costs between $4-7k. “abdominal etching” is pretty much just precision localized liposuction to suck out the fat inbetween the abs. this flabby dude looks totally disproportionate now though:

here’s the whole wsj.com article about ab etching via gizmodo.com

so after losing a bit of weight (hopefully it was a little bit more fat than it was muscle, either way i got down to 129), i’m back to eating hard and lifting big. it’s definitely a lot more fun, and after the gym you feel pumped and invigorated, instead of hungry and emaciated.

last friday i arm-wrestled alvaro, who whooped my ass, but only after letting me struggle for a good minute or so and tear precious bicep and shoulder muscle fibers. coincidently, yesterday, costin wanted to change chest day from friday to monday, and while i’m typically against that workout schedule, i gave in, since it actually worked out well for my stupid injuries.

so yesterday, with the flat dumbells i was able to throw up 80×8, 85×8, 85×6, which isn’t too far off from my heyday (i was able to do 95×2 at my best, which i may be able to do now, i’m not really sure). if i keep with a regular schedule and the supplements (whey protein 3x a day on non-workout days, muscle milk 3x a day on workout days, and my wife’s great cooking everyday) i hope to be looking fantastic by the end of summer.

it’s kinda wacky that all the media outlets are already hopping onto the “it must be the steroids” wagon. they were reporting that it might be steroids even before they found anything in the house. now that they have it’s like they think they know exactly what happened. of course a dude that old/huge is squeezing the juice! might it have been a factor into what ultimately happened? sure, but who f’ing knows. if you go and murder your wife and kid, you got issues. i just hate how some good drugs get such a bad rep =p

funny quotes from the si.com article:

“Pro wrestler Chris Benoit strangled his wife, suffocated his 7-year-old son and placed a Bible next to their bodies before hanging himself with a weight-machine pulley, authorities said Tuesday.”

if you love the body building, and you have to off yourself, i can’t imagine a more fantastic way to do it.

“I’m baffled about why anybody would kill a 7-year-old,” District Attorney Scott Ballard said. “I don’t think we’ll ever be able wrap our head around that.”

haha, but he has no problem understanding why a husband would strangle his wife :p

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/06/25/wrestler.dead.ap/index.html

so i’ve been working pretty hard on the abs for the last couple of weeks. diet and supplements have been important, and i’ve been at the gym doing cardio every single day. the main part though is actually working out the abs, so that i meet the weight loss half way. the cubes have gotten much bigger, the obliques are getting defined and slowly the fat is being burned. a long way to go before i’m satisfied, but here’s a current status pic:

scroll down for kinda nws

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on friday, taka and i met up with our disneyland pass-holder buddies for some evening disneyland action. unfortunately, taka got sick, so after only 1 ride we had to bounce. now that the weather is getting warmer though, and there’s less block-out days, i’m sure we’ll be hitting up the park more often.

i spent almost all of saturday working in the garage on the integra and the boat.

the integra is now completely rice-free. i rewired the turn signals so they don’t flash at seizure speed, i replaced the clear corners with the stock reflectors, swapped the phallic e-brake with the factory one, and mounted tires on matching wheels. (me and my neighbor actually mounted the tires by hand… those huge hydraulic machines at the tire shops make it look too easy.)

i installed two more pole holders in the bow of the boat to match the ones we had previously installed in the gunwales. they’re all almost completely flush so it’s an undercover fishing boat now. it’s insane how much stainless steel hardware costs though… it was like $2 for a bolt/nut/washer. i also polished out a few rust stains, and waxed portions of it. next saturday, i’m going to install an amp that i pulled out of the integra since it’s hard to hear anything over the engine when it’s wide open. anyway, we should be ready for some good fishing next sunday.

saturday night me, ben and taka had dinner at lonestar and saw ‘music and lyrics’. it was a late showing, i had a lot to drink at dinner, and i was just exhausted from spending the entire day in the garage so i was dosing. ironically taka was bright-eyed and bushytailed through the entire thing and loved it, so it must have been a good movie, or maybe her comprehension is just getting better, or likely both.

on sunday me, costin and al did a 25 mile bike ride from my place to hb and back. al kept us honest with his sprints and it was a really strong ride. i rode better than i thought i would, but not as fast as al… and this is how it starts. after a lunch with the guys, taka and i did some shopping then hit the gym. i’ve found a new favorite power ab workout: standing cable crunch. i used to do kneeling cable crunches, but i could never get any leverage at the higher weights. the standing cable crunch (you need to have a back support, and keep your lowerback/upper ass against it) lets me focus all the power on the abs, and none on balancing. this morning my lower abs feel like shit, but the good kind.

sunday night, me and taka had a nice fancy dinner with mike and lisa at cafe piccolo in long beach. again by this point of the day i was pretty exhausted, and the 2 bottles of wine didn’t help that, but the convo was great and lisa’s a sweetheart, so it was a good time… and get this, she has a phd in chemistry and works for a company designing epoxies for what? … carbon fiber! my favorite composite material.